Sara Paretsky

A single mom and psychiatric intern encounters a troubled but brilliant young man who turns up dead in her house after she befriended him. When she finds herself the prime suspect, she sets out to solve the crime and clear her name.

Victoria "V.I" Warshawski is a Chicago based private detective who agrees to babysit for her new boyfriend; then he is murdered. Being the detective type, she makes the murder her next case. In doing so she befriends the victim's daughter, Kat, and together they set out to crack the case.